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Last Fall, I joined IACP, the International Association of Culinary Professionals. This organization covers every food-related profession you can think of — from chefs and educators, to authors and small business owners, to, yes, food photographers and stylists. As you’d expect, there’s an associated Facebook group, and it was there that I first saw a message from Nandita Godbole asking if anyone would be interested in testing some recipes from her upcoming book, Not For You: Family Narratives of Denial & Comfort Foods. Naturally, I emailed her right away to volunteer my services, asking to test any gluten-free recipes she’d developed.

She sent me the two recipes that I photographed for this post: Sukka Mutton (Charcoal Grilled Lamb Kebabs) and Bajra Rotlo (Griddle-Baked Pearl Millet Bread). I’ve been trying to cut back on meat lately, so I asked Nandita if there was a meatless option I could prepare instead. She responded with two variations on the Sukka Mutton, saying she’d welcome the feedback from a test with either paneer or portobello mushrooms. I opted for the latter, since they’re such a satisfying meat substitute.

Rather than grill the mushrooms whole as she suggested, I spaced and cut them into large chunks before grilling them on skewers, exactly the way I would have prepared the mutton. Still great, but a few of the edge pieces were too delicate and fell off the skewers, so take her advice if you make this!

The marinade was simple, with yogurt, pepper, lemon and ginger forming the backbone of it. It seemed almost too simple and possibly one-note as I was reading it, but any doubts about its complexity vanished as I sampled the assembled marinade; by the time I was setting up for the photo, I was gobbling down those less-than-perfect chunks of mushroom. They had a very fresh taste with a little smokiness from the grill, and were altogether a great meat substitute, perfect for Meatless Monday!

The rotlo will be very familiar to those of you who have made your own corn tortillas at home. The process is much the same — stirring the flour into boiling water, kneading and rolling out the dough, cooking it in a cast iron pan while pressing down with a wadded-up paper towel. It puffs up just like tortillas do though the flavor is a bit lighter. I’m happy to have this variation to work with in the future.

If you’d like to check out Nandita’s book, it’s being sold on Amazon in both print and digital formats. The second volume will be out in the new year, and is available for pre-order here. Based on the two recipes I tested, I’ll certainly be checking it out.

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Sukka Mutton: Charcoal-Grilled Meat Kebabs

Prep Time

20mins

Cook Time

10mins

Total Time

30mins

Marinated and grilled kebabs with a balanced blend of spices.

Course:
Main Course

Cuisine:
Indian

Servings: 8servings

Author: Nandita Godbole

Ingredients

Kebabs

2lbsgoat or lamb meat,boneless, skinless, cut into bite-sized pieces

1cupboiler onions,skin on

8-10metal or wood skewers

Marinade

2tablespoonsginger paste

1/2cupunflavored 2% Greek yogurt,whisked

2teaspoonscayenne pepper powder,or to taste

1teaspoonsalt

2tablespoonslemon juice

Instructions

Oil the metal skewers prior to use. If using wooden/bamboo skewers, presoak for at least two hours to prevent them from burning.

Trim the top and bottom of the boiler onions, leave the skin on.

Combine the marinade ingredients in a large glass bowl. Trim and cut the meat into 2" pieces. Add the meat into the marinade, season with salt, coat evenly and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Arrange the marinated meat pieces on skewers. On a separate skewer, thread the onions though their centre. Cook the meat skewers on a charcoal grill (approx. 450°F, ten minutes until tender). Rotate the skewer regularly to prevent from burning. In the last 3-4 minutes cook the skewer of the onions on the charcoal grill as well, letting the onion skins burn away as they cook. Serve hot.

Posole won’t be discovered by a Hollywood producer while sitting at a lunch counter, and it’ll never be a leading man, but what it’s got you don’t need eyes to appreciate.

Posole’s indecisively green and maybe could be a little thinner.

Posole’s so homely, cabbage dresses it up.

Posole’s best friends are étouffée and curry. They hang out and laugh a lot.

Posole says, “I may look like a barf bowl*, but you’d be lucky to have me.”

Posole dgaf.

I’ll gladly admit that the homeliness of the photo is entirely due to my styling and eagerness to eat. For a more beautiful presentation and the AMAZING recipe, check it out at Food52.

But looks aside, the success of this dish all comes down to the hominy. If you’re not making it right away, it’s worth it to order yours from Rancho Gordo rather than relying on the big name brand you’ll find in the grocery. I’ve tried them both, and there’s just no comparison. But dried is always preferable to canned, so use what you like. I won’t tell.

I made this start-to-finish in one day, not accounting for soaking, and it took a while. If you don’t have all day to tend this, you could easily do the prep in one day, then throw everything together the next to break it into manageable segments.

Just please, make this dish. Don’t let my poor styling skills dissuade you from trying what will likely become a regular in your winter meal rotation.

*Is “barf bowl” the new “buddha bowl” just waiting to sweep Instagram?

I’m not sure what came over me last weekend, but the idea of a salted caramel apple tart just worked its way into my imagination and wouldn’t let go. It was entirely too specific to be denied — an apple tart would’ve been fine, even an apple crisp, but this HAD to have salted caramel, and had to be gluten-free. So I got to work.

While this tart is easy enough for even novice bakers to make, it has a few parts to it which add up in terms of actual cooking plus resting time. If you’d rather not do it in one pass, you could easily start a day or two early by prepping the crust and the caramel and refrigerating them until you’re ready to proceed.

Gluten-Free Tart Crust

I wanted to use almond flour for the crust because I thought the flavor would complement the apples and caramel nicely, so I searched for a recipe that guaranteed something more flaky than dense and chewy, which can sometimes be a problem with almond flour. Turns out that meant adding some tapioca starch, but not enough to overwhelm the nutty flavor of the almonds. The recipe I chose from Cassidy’s Craveable Creations worked out great. There’s no need to parbake — just follow her instructions to prep and rest the dough, then go from there. (You’ll need to purchase finely ground almond flour rather than almond meal for this, which isn’t always easy to find locally. Bob’s Red Mill is delicious, but too coarse for a lot of the recipes I make, so I order flour online in five pound bags and store it in the freezer for maximum freshness. I’ve put together a shopping guide at the end of this post so you can find any specialty items I mention.)

Salted Caramel

Salted caramel is a snap to make, and it’s a great way to use any leftover heavy cream you may have hanging around. The nice thing about this recipe is that it makes more than you’ll need for the tart, so you have an excuse to warm the caramel for an ice cream topping, eat it with apple slices, or just sample it liberally from the jar. Most recipes are pretty similar and don’t call for vanilla, but I have a ridiculous amount of vanilla bean pods in the cupboard, so I simmered one with the cream, and it really added a nice depth to the final product. (If you ever need vanilla beans — especially in bulk — but can’t bring yourself to purchase them at the extortionate prices charged by grocery stores, do what I do and order from ebay. Seriously.)

This tart can really use a generous application of salted caramel (and it’s great drizzled over the individual slices), so don’t be shy when you’re building it. The apples aren’t tossed with sugar before assembly, so if you prefer a sweeter tart, be generous.

Apples and Assembly

To make the tart a bit prettier than I normally would, I left the apple skins on and cut them into thin slices before arranging them in the pan in half-apple groupings. Instead of trying my patience with a knife, I set my mandoline to cut 1/8″ slices, which ensured even slices and sped up the process considerably. But even with the mandoline, it took a little while to slice five apples, so I dipped the fresh slices into a mixture of citric acid and water to keep them from browning. You could use plenty of lemon juice in the water instead of the citric acid powder, but I’ve never had much luck with it. Neither one is strictly necessary since browning won’t harm the flavor, but it makes for a nice presentation.

My 9″ tart pan was perfect for this application, but you can use a pie plate if you prefer. Just don’t use deep dish unless you increase all ingredients. Even so, the apples may look a bit meager in there after baking.

The only difficulty with assembly was taking pictures between each step, but when the photographic muse calls, one must listen! In fact, I created a little animation of the process, if you’d like to take a look:

While making a pretty tart takes a little more effort than my go-to apple crisp, the extra time spent in the kitchen is certainly worth it! Nothing says fall like a delicious apple dessert.

An apple tart with soul – salted caramel adds depth and the nutty almond crust plays beautifully with the other flavors in this perfect fall dessert.

Course:
Dessert

Ingredients

Salted Caramel

1cupgranulated sugar

1/4cup water

2/3cupheavy cream

1vanilla beansplit lengthwise

2tablespoonsunsalted buttercut into small cubes

3/4teaspoonkosher salt

Apple Tart

4-5baking apples (like Cortland or Granny Smith)

citric acid

water

1tablespoonunsalted buttermelted

2teaspoonscinnamon sugaroptional, for sprinkling

Instructions

Almond Flour Crust

Follow instructions at the blog post listed in Recipe Notes (below) for tart preparation. After chilling dough in refrigerator, roll out between two sheets of parchment paper, remove one piece of paper and turn dough over and into a 9" tart pan with removable bottom. Remove top sheet of parchment and press dough into the pan. Trim excess dough either with a knife or by pressing dough against the edge of the pan. Refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the tart.

Salted Caramel

In a 2-quart saucepan, combine granulated sugar and water over medium heat and cook, without stirring, until a deep amber color.

While syrup is cooking, simmer heavy cream and vanilla bean in a small pot. Remove vanilla bean just before proceeding with the next step.

Once sugar reaches the proper color, whisk in heavy cream, taking care as you do because it will foam up. Continue whisking over low heat for 2-3 minutes, or until smooth.

Remove saucepan from heat and whisk in butter and salt. Allow to cool before proceeding with apple tart assembly.

Mix a small bowl of water and citric acid according to instructions on the package and set next to your work station.

Apple Tart

Cut apples in half lengthwise and core. To slice, turn an apple half on its side so the apple is taller than it is wide, with the cut half is facing away from you. With a mandoline set to 1/8", slice the apples as far down as you can go without endangering your fingers.

Stack the apple slices in order so they re-form the apple half. Dip in citric acid & water and set aside on a plate or cutting board. Repeat with remaining apples.

To assemble, remove prepared tart shell from the refrigerator and add 3-4 large spoonfuls of salted caramel to the base of the tart. Spread with a butter knife or small offset spatula.

Arrange sliced apple halves decoratively into tart shell. See video for how I did it, or just wing it. Fill in any open spaces with smaller groupings of apple slices.

Brush apples with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if using.

Place tart shell on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 350°F for approximately 60-75 minutes (possibly more), or until a skewer inserts easily into the thickest apple sections with little resistance. If tart dough starts to brown too much, wrap the edges in foil.

Cool in tart pan to room temperature before serving. Drizzle with salted caramel sauce for a decadent presentation.

Gravlax is something I only think to make a couple of times a year, and then kick myself for not having it at least monthly. It’s incredibly simple to make — the only difficulty is leaving enough refrigerator space for a few days’ curing time — it keeps well and for much longer than you’re likely to have it around, and it’s impressive enough to serve at parties or holiday gatherings. I’m the only one in the house who’ll enjoy gravlax in its standard dill-heavy format, so when I came across a recipe for blueberry-and-coriander gravlax in my weekly Taste email, I jumped on the opportunity to share it with Gil (and with you as well, since I decided to break my blogging fast just to tell you about it).

It’s a treat in every way. I mean, just look at it. They say you eat first with your eyes, and that’s surely true here, especially if you like bold, lively color on your plate. The texture is firm and the flavor is subtly sweet with zesty pops from the coriander and lemon. I honestly can’t gush enough about it.

But wait, there’s more! Darcie Hunter of Gourmet Creative came over to style this up for the cuttingboard.com photo contest we’re entering (#cutthecheese2017, ya’ll!) and brought over some of her homemade pickles to pair with it. She also whipped up a quick horseradish-and-sour-cream topping, and the combo of the gravlax with the pickles and horseradish was outrageously good. Check out Darcie’s pickle recipe at her blog and our behind-the-scenes photo on my Instagram feed, showing off my new cucoloris baby.

If you’re looking for a new spin on an old classic, do give this gravlax recipe a try! You can find it here, and while you’re at it, sign up for their emails. You’ll be happy you did.

Welcome to the unofficial start of summer, everyone. With Memorial Day upon us and May being National Salad Month, I can think of no better time to introduce you to my latest collaboration with Darcie Hunter of Gourmet Creative. We wanted to do a fun project on our own and realized that, between the two of us, we could put together a terrific cookbook. Our mini e-cookbook Seasonal Salads: Perfectly Dressed Dishes Using What’s Available Now gives you a taste of what’s to come.

With one flavorful salad featuring ingredients appropriate for each season (depending on your location, naturally), we hope this will whet your appetite and get you thinking locally and seasonally for your table. Start off your year with a Thai Papaya Salad that will make your mouth happy, then work your way through the seasons. To claim your copy, simply sign up for either of our newsletters (click the link or sign up at the bottom of this post for mine) and you’ll be directed to a download link for the pdf. Easy-peasy!

When you try the recipes, please let us know what you think! Any feedback on recipes or formatting will be welcome as we make the deep dive into the expanded version.

Do you do pomelo? The first time I had one, I had no idea about the pith situation, nor the thick skin on the segments and had a time with it. I’d heard they were delicious, saw one at a market, and picked it up for lunch thinking it’d be a nutritious option and I’d get to try something new to boot. Hah! Back in my office, I went to work peeling it with the steak knife I had in my drawer. And I kept working. And peeling, and working, and peeling. Until finally — no lie, about 10 minutes later — I got to the good stuff! I never made the mistake of tackling one outside of my own kitchen again, and have gotten more adept at it over time, but still don’t have them as often as I should.

Then a month or so ago, Darcie mentioned that she wanted to do a tutorial on prepping pomelo (which, by the way, is a terrific guide). I casually mentioned that maybe we should do a sorbet with the sections, and the next thing I knew, she’d come up with an amazing recipe. Let me tell you, it pays to be friends with a recipe developer!

It was an overcast day, so we decided to use natural light to give the photos a soft feel. I really enjoyed taking a break from my strobes, which I’ve come to rely on even when going for a daylight look; it was nice to get back to my magic window and take a WYSIWYG approach to lighting. The props and backgrounds came together easily as well once we saw the prepared sorbet. The blue tile offers a nice complement to the edging-toward-coral sorbet, and the diamond pattern on the light gray bowl relates to the starburst pattern on the vintage Ovenex loaf pan. I’d say it was a success all around, and look forward to making this again now that I have the secret formula for getting to the meat of the pomelo in record time!

Be sure to visit Darcie’s site for the sorbet recipe — it’s a real winner.

This week’s post is dedicated to Kenji Lopez-Alt, that test kitchen god (and managing culinary director at Serious Eats) whose recipes formed the backbone of the best meals I made this week. Only minor tweaks were necessary to make them Whole30-compliant; though I’m really starting to hate the word compliant, the adjustmentsseem to be coming to me naturally now. I’m still constantly hungry despite eating all the time and adding even more fat to my diet, but the cheese cravings aren’t constant, so I’m headed in the right direction. No tiger blood, either, but I always thought that was a long shot, anyway.

Lunch today was a fan-freaking-tastic soup of asparagus and fennel, found on Lopez-Alt’s Instagram feed. I took the basics and tweaked them a bit with what I had in the house and fell head over heels. I sautéed 1/2 large chopped onion with a small thinly sliced bulb of fennel and a finely chopped stalk of celery in olive oil until they were soft, then added one bunch of chopped asparagus (minus the tips, which I steamed) and half of a sliced russet potato and cooked them together for a few minutes. One quart of chicken stock, salt to taste and some simmering later, I blitzed the soup in my Vitamix and lunch was served. I love simple, seasonal recipes, don’t you? I may try to accentuate the fennel flavor next time with a splash of Herbsaint, but honestly found the soup to be perfectly balanced this way. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

A more substantial meal came in the form of a stovetop-cooked ribeye and vegan creamed spinach, which may sound like an odd combination, but hear me out. When you’re eating so much meat in one sitting (though not that much — Gil and I split the steak), there’s no need to go overboard with real creamed spinach. It’s just too much. And honestly, I found the flavors of this vegan dish much more pleasing and less muted than I do with the standard recipe. Blended cauliflower and almond milk form the base of the “cream” and are just brilliant at that job. I did add a little nutritional yeast for a cheesy tang, but otherwise cooked it according to the recipe.

The steak followed the Serious Eats recipe I use exclusively during winter, when the thought of standing at my grill would be enough to keep me from eating steak at all if not for this method of indoor cooking. I did use ghee instead of butter and could definitely taste a difference, but the steak was excellent anyway, so no complaints there.

I did have a couple of small cheats this week. When I couldn’t stand the thought of preparing one more meal, Gil whisked me away to a BBQ joint where I had smoked beef with a side of mashed potatoes that might have (probably) had milk and/or butter in them. I felt fine after, so no worries for me! Then, at a meeting I attended Tuesday, I had one Terra Chip which was The Best Thing I’ve Ever Tasted In My Life. I can’t even lie. Fried potatoes (though this was taro, I believe) are absolutely my trigger food and that chip was like a drug that left me wanting more. I don’t know where I got this self-control, but am very happy for it, because otherwise I’d be sitting on my living room floor covered in grease and crumbs.

Then again, Benny would probably take care of the crumbs situation. I haven’t really shared about it here, but we lost both Ru and Otis over the last two years, which was just heartbreaking. Ru left us only in December of last year, so we waited as long as we could, but finally adopted another greyhound just three weeks ago! He’s the sweetest little guy with a funny bark and a much bigger brain than Ru and Otis put together — it’s a little scary to watch him figuring things out. He’s still a little camera-shy, so no decent photos yet, but if you’d like to follow him on Instagram, he’s precocious and has his own account. And while you’re there, follow me, too! I try to post everyday, so there’s always something delicious to see.

I’m planning to end Whole30 a few days early next Thursday, when I’m going out to lunch with friends. We’re planning for dim sum and I don’t want to miss out on everything but steamed vegetables. But I’ll behave. Mostly. See you next week!

A week and a half in, and I’m doing great with Whole30! There have been no mid-afternoon slumps or hangriness to deal with, but eating this way does require much more thought than simply throwing together a quick sandwich or heating up an Amy’s cheese enchilada entrée. (Honestly, I needed an Amy’s intervention, anyway.) Avoiding easy fillers like rice or bread has been a little challenging, but nothing I can’t deal with, and I’ve lost a few pounds, though that wasn’t my goal at all.

I’m still amazed by how much unnecessary sugar is in our food. I’m generally not much of a packaged food eater (save for the aforementioned enchiladas), but love condiments and sauces, and many of my favorites are taboo. Also, I miss cheese. Terribly. It’s my one craving and I’m going to be the saddest person around if I find dairy gives me problems when I start reintroducing food.

The Meals

There were a couple of fantastic meals I’ve had in the past week that I want to share with you today. Up top, you’ll see my photo for Bon Appetit’sCod with Romesco Sauce, Hazelnuts, Lemon and Parsley. It was eye-opening, mind-boggling… just a fantastic meal with only a few components. And where, may I ask, has romesco sauce been all my life?! I’ve read about it for years, but never took the plunge until I made this recipe, and now it’s all I want to eat. I want to proselytize door to door in my neighborhood so everyone can share in this pure joy of mine! Yeah, I know, but it’s honestly that good. Cod isn’t something I eat very often, but it works so well here, I’m not sure I’d want to change anything next time.

And then, there’s Deborah Madison’s Potato and Green Chile Stew from Food52. Whenever I make this, I wonder why I don’t have it more often. It’s part of Food52’s Genius Recipes collection, and with good reason: Deborah Madison is an alchemist, creating kitchen gold from a handful of common ingredients. It’s a recipe that’s easy to convert for Whole30 compliance (skip the sour cream, which I usually do anyway) or for vegan/vegetarian diets (use vegetable broth instead of chicken and skip the sour cream). With our turn to winter weather now that Spring is here, this soup was the perfect thing to warm me after spending a lot of time outdoors yesterday.

Some Exciting News

Last summer, I got a call about a cookbook project that needed a quick turnaround. “It’s Misty Copeland’s Ballerina Body. Are you interested?” Well, my fingers couldn’t hit the keyboard fast enough to reply that absolutely, I was! Because of the abbreviated shooting schedule, I enlisted the help of local food stylist Darcie Hunter of Gourmet Creative for most of the plated dishes, and together we created the food photos featured in the book, released just this week. If you’re interested in creating a lean, strong, healthy body, want some great recipes (and they really ARE great!), or just want to read more about Misty, pick up a copy! I’ve shared a few of my favorites below.

Like so many others, I’ve decided to take the Whole 30 plunge (after avoiding it for what seems like years). About seven years ago, I tried the primal thing and discovered within a week that much of the joint pain, inflammation and stomach issues I’d had for years subsided when I removed wheat from my diet. It only got me about to about 80% of where I needed to be, though, so I knew an elimination diet would be in the cards at some point. But I’ve let things slide because I’m a professional-level rationalizer who can find an excuse to fit any situation in which delicious trigger foods are present:

I’m shooting this amazing dish for a cookbook and it’s already prepared. It’d be a shame to just toss it out!

I had a few bites yesterday. A donut and some pizza couldn’t possibly make things worse today. (Oh, but they can.)

I’ll just suck it up. If a little pain is the price to pay for eating (insert literally anything I shouldn’t be eating), then I’ll deal. I’m a tough cookie!

But after a particularly bad reaction to bulgur wheat last week that left me hobbling around the house for two days, I decided to get real. There’s no virtue in suffering nor vice in self-care. Now that all of our special occasion dinners have been enjoyed — years are front-loaded with birthdays and anniversaries in this family — I’m doing this thing.

Shopping for Whole 30-compliant pantry staples involved some label reading because sugar hides in so many places, but this did give me a chance to finally try Red Boat Fish Sauce and Califia Farms Almond Milk, both of which I highly recommend. We have a fabulous “farmers’ market” one town over that carries an abundant and varied supply of fresh fruits and vegetables, so I’ll be hitting that even more often than I already do.

One day in, I don’t notice a huge difference. My breakfasts aren’t often all that breakfast-y and yesterday was no exception, when I had a favorite of mine, citrus (pink grapefruit in this case) with cubed avocado, salt & pepper. An apple Larabar made a nice snack, and I lightly adapted Bon Appetit’sSpicy Pork with Mustard Greens Soup for lunch and dinner by using grass-fed beef (no pork available) and zucchini noodles.

I think the spiralizer’s going to be my friend for the next month. It’s one purchase I honestly love and use often, unlike a lot of other single-use kitchen tools. You can find it here, if you want to check it out (that’s an Amazon affiliate link, fyi).

The only complete fail so far was golden milk made with coconut milk for compliance with the no-dairy portion of Whole 30. I’m sure the coconut milk would be a fine substitute with no other change in variables, but the drink was honestly disgusting without the hint of sweetness molasses gives it. My tongue recoiled from it, the same way it did that one time I sampled baking chocolate. Blech. So I’ll stick to my regular beverages — coffee, plain tea and seltzer.

I can’t promise I’ll blog every day — in fact, I can promise you I won’t — but I will try to get here regularly to post good recipes and let you know how things are going.

Have you done Whole 30? What was your experience like? I’m really curious to hear.

Remember that love fest of a get together I mentioned in my last post? Well, Darcie has started blogging her recipes in anticipation of Chinese New Year, so I’d like to share her first post with you today. This one features stir fried noodles and vegetables, perfect for the new year, since long noodles symbolize life and prosperity.

Read all about it at Gourmet Creative. And don’t forget to check out Robin and Sue, the wonderful food photographer and stylist duo who were such fun to play with for this shoot! Girl power!

Be sure to follow everyone on Instagram for daily food inspiration: @darcie_hunter, @robinmc, @smrags and @amyrothphoto.